BT’s high performers get more home time

BT is set to launch a performance-related pay scheme for customer service
engineers to improve their productivity and work-life balance.

John Steele, BT group personnel director, wants to roll out its new
self-motivated teams concept in early summer to 25,000 staff. It will reward
staff for performance rather than attendance, and enable parents to spend more
time with their families.

Customer service engineers, who fit and repair BT products in homes and
businesses, traditionally topped up their salaries through overtime. But
engineers in self-motivated teams will be able to accumulate points for high
performance that will translate into additional pay to their basic salary.

Points can be accumulated on an individual and team basis for the number of
jobs completed, quality of work and improvements in customer satisfaction, for
example.

A 13-week trial of the PRP system among 5,500 field engineers, which ended
in March, boosted productivity by 5 per cent and quality of service by 8 per
cent.

Steele said: "The people who missed out on overtime because of family
commitments will now be able to earn more money by performing better and having
the opportunity to do more in the time available."

During the trial, engineers also worked two hours less a week and earned
more, claimed Steele.

Unions are consulting with members over the new system.

– See next week’s issue for a full interview with John Steele ahead of
BT’s work-life balance conference, 8-12 April.